Is An Open Floor Plan Right For You?

Forbes Coaches Council
Top coaches offer insights on leadership development & careers.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

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Forbes Coaches Council

Top business and career coaches from Forbes Coaches Council offer firsthand insights on leadership development & careers.

With a clear message to the "cube" culture, open floor plans have come to dominate not only startups but large corporate organizations as well. Facebook, for one, has the largest open floor plan in the world, which currently holds 2,800 employees.

If you're considering if an open floor plan is right for your business, consider the following pros and cons from members of Forbes Coaches Council.

In his book, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, Cal Newport emphasizes the importance of focused attention to do deep work — work that truly matters. Open floor plans disrupt focus. Constant interruption and noise and activity around you disrupts your ability to think and focus and produce work that can be earth shattering for the organization. Collaboration has to be separate from the space to do deep work. - Gia Ganesh, Gia Ganesh Coaching

2. Offers A 360° Viewpoint

Open floor plans give staff a 360° view of what's going on in their colleagues' realms. Not only can they collaborate by turning a chair and having that "in time" conversation, but it gives people an idea of how busy their colleagues are, what their stressors are (through tone of voice and body language), and when they're excited about a situation. It helps them really get to know who they're working with. - Donna Karlin, No Ceiling, Just Sky™ Institute

3. Wonderful If You Want A Frat House

One of the most popular trends in startup real estate is open floor plans, ostensibly to increase transparency, collaboration and a sense of camaraderie. That's wonderful if you want a frat house at work. It's awful in practice, since the eyes are always adrift toward distractions and constant movement, conversations and anything but sustained productivity. A balance of open and closed is best. - Yuri Kruman, Master The Talk Consulting

4. Allows For Flow

Open floor plans support the creative process and are great for open collaboration and brainstorming. The dynamic pace is best suited for organizations who are moving at a fast pace, are consensus-driven, and can operate in an open and transparent fashion. - Lizabeth Czepiel, Lizabeth Czepiel, LLC